Why it works: Currant and brandy are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,057 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓
Currant Cake
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Make the dough
In a bowl, rub together the butter, sugar, and flour.
Wash, pick, and dry the currants, then add them to the mixture.
Beat the eggs and mix in with the brandy or rose-water.
Add milk gradually until a dough forms.
Shape and bake
Roll out the dough thin and cut it into cakes.
Bake in the preheated oven until golden.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.
-
Currant + brandytop 7% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,057 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
-
Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
-
Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Butter
- Adds fat that makes the cake tender and rich in flavour.
- All-purpose flour
- Forms the structure of the dough once moistened and worked.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cake and helps the crust brown in the oven.
- Eggs
- Bind the dough and add moisture and richness.
- Currants
- Add small pockets of fruitiness and sweetness throughout the cake.
The step that matters
Adding the milk gradually. Flour absorbs liquid at different rates, and adding milk all at once can make the dough sticky or too wet. Adding it slowly lets you stop once the dough just holds together, which keeps the cakes tender when rolled and baked.
Swap the currant
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, flour, sugar, egg, brandy, milk):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Figfits better
- Currantthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, flour, sugar, egg, brandy, milk. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
More currant cake recipes
You might also like
Brandy Peaches68 recipes
Red Currant Jelly65 recipes
Currant Ice Cream32 recipes
Brandy Cream21 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.